Rome: The European Union s special envoy for Myanmar, Piero Fassino, today urged the postponement of a weekend constitutional referendum across the country in view of the devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis.

"It would seem wise to postpone the May 10 referendum on the constitution not just for the areas affected by the cyclone but for the entire country," the Italian envoy said in a communique.

Myanmar state television said the military authorities had decided to go ahead with the referendum on Saturday in most of the country, while putting it off until May 24 in 47 towns and cities of the devastated Irrawaddy and Yangon areas.

"The numbers on the dead and missing suggest a humanitarian catastrophe of frightening dimensions," Fassino said, calling on the junta to grant visas to disaster aid agencies.

With at least 22,000 dead, another 41,000 missing and the toll expected to continue rising from the weekend cyclone, many aid agencies are still awaiting travel visas to enter the reclusive nation.

But despite large swathes of the south being under water, buildings destroyed, crops ruined and survivors homeless, the country s Social Welfare Minister, Maung Maung Swe, gave no hint that entry restrictions would be lifted for outside agencies.

US First Lady Laura Bush yesterday said in Washington that it would be "very odd" for the referendum to go ahead this weekend in the wake of the cyclone.

Source : PTI